“A Nation Under God: The Problem”
Jer. 2:1-37
The late Reformed pastor and theologian Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” As we pointed out in an earlier message, whether we know it or not, or even like it or not, Jesus rules. But the fact that He rules does not automatically make us, or any nation, a nation under God. Why not? What’s the problem?
To answer the question we look at the history of Israel, God’s truly chosen nation. If ever there was a nation under God, she was it. However, through the prophets – especially Jeremiah – we discover she often did not live like a nation under God. From her problems we can learn about our own.
In the second chapter of Jeremiah we learn that the first problem is A LACK OF RECOGNITION OF SIN. In this chapter alone Jeremiah lists four evidences of this lack. He begins by speaking for God (2-3): “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the LORD…” This is love language of a forsaken lover. God remembered how it used to be and how His people loved Him. No other nation had ever received such gracious, loving attention. No other nation had witnessed what they had witnessed. He had freed them from slavery, delivered them from bondage, led them through the Red Sea and the wilderness – all the while feeding and clothing them - into a promised, glorious land filled with milk and honey. They owed Him everything. Yet they walked away from Him. (5-7) “This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”’
God is pointing to the sin of INGRATITUDE. Later today read Psalm 78. It’s a long Psalm but so insightful. For 55 verses the Psalmist recites all that God had done for His people. He did this, He did this, He did this, He did this…then verse 56 abruptly states that they put God to the test and rejected Him and that therefore God rejected them. So it was in Jeremiah’s time. Forgetting or ignoring all the blessings God had bestowed on and given to them, Israel thought she could do more and get more from other sources so she followed worthless idols and, God said, became worthless herself. In his book ‘Jesus, Lord of Your Personality’, pastor Bob Russell points out that having much doesn't tend to produce a grateful spirit. "Have you had a taste of the best this world has to offer? You went to Hawaii once on vacation, so now it's harder for you to enjoy the state park. You've eaten a steak at Ruth Chris, so it's harder to be thankful for a meal at Ponderosa. You've driven a Jaguar, so now you can't be as content with your used Chevrolet. You've cheered for a national champion, so now it's difficult to be grateful when your team has a good season but doesn't take home the title...Generally speaking, the more we have, the less grateful we are. It should be the opposite; the more we have, the more thankful we should be. But it usually doesn't work that way, does it? A wise man prayed, 'Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God' (Proverbs 30:8-9). It is a rare person who, when his cup frequently runs over, can give thanks to God instead of complaining about the limited size of his mug!"
WHEN ISRAEL BECAME COMFORTABLE WITH THE BLESSINGS OF GOD, SHE FORGOT AND IGNORED THE BLESSINGS OF GOD; WHEN SHE WANTED A BIGGER MUG, SHE ABANDONED GOD. If America hopes to be a nation under God, she cannot afford to forget the hand of God in her founding, nor ignore the blessings God has richly bestowed upon her throughout the years. For once we forget and ignore God, we start wanting bigger mugs. Once we leave God out of our Thanksgiving Day proclamations and celebrations, once we leave God and gratitude to God out of our daily lives we stray from Him and become worthless, for God will say to us, “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”’ One problem is ingratitude.
The second evidence put forth by Jeremiah is in verses 8-12. “The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.” The sin is IDOLATRY. Once Israel demanded to have a king like other nations, she became like other nations where a centralized political authority with vast power became a substitute for God’s rule. THE KING TOOK THE PLACE OF GOD. As they slowly abandoned God the king became their idol. This led to the worship of Baal. It was believed that Baal, rather than Jehovah God, was responsible for riches and abundance; so fertility cults were formed to make offerings to the god of fruitfulness. These offerings became sexual and were considered sacred prostitution. Listen to Jeremiah (2:20): “…you said ‘I will not serve you.’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.’ Israel, like other nations, BECAME SEXUALLY DEPRAVED and worshiped the god of sexual license. Social stability declined and religion itself became a destructive force as it threatened the bonds of marriage and family, which were the foundation stones upon which the social fabric of every ancient society was built. (1)
Additionally, when Israel was threatened by enemies, rather than turning to God, SHE FORMED ALLIANCES WITH THOSE ENEMIES and became more and more like them – even worshiping their gods. They had lost their reverent fear of and trust in God. Note verses 18-19: “Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River? Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” And in 36-37, “Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria. You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.” The alliances will fail – every time – to bring about a nation’s desires. The imagery of hands on their heads symbolizes that the alliances led to captivity and a loss if independence.
So much more could be said under this sin but time prohibits it. Yet we need to understand that as long as America continues to abandon God certain things will happen. She will put her trust in a system or form of government, or a particular leader, rather than God; she will worship the god of sexual license rather than God; she will form alliances with other nations rather than with God; and she will begin to adopt and worship other gods. The sin of idolatry.
Jeremiah’s third evidence is the sin of GREED. Verse 13: “…they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Israel wanted more than what she felt God had given her, so she tried her own means of gaining blessing and wealth. Later Jeremiah said (8:10), “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain…” Whether rich or poor, greed was a problem. No matter their status, PEOPLE ALWAYS WANT MORE, BIGGER, AND BETTER.
I recently heard some interesting, revealing statistics. If we take the amount our government spends on assistance and divide it by the number of people receiving assistance, it reveals that the average American on government assistance receives more money than the average American worker - and 50% of the assistance recipients pay no taxes. My point is this: as long as America abandons God and therefore rejects and forfeits His blessings and provisions, she will turn to government to provide. The more reliant we become upon government, the more power we grant to government; the more we grant to government the power to give to us, the more we give it power to take away from us; and THE MORE WE RELY ON GOVERNMENT TO GIVE TO US AND PROVIDE FOR US THE SOONER OUR GOVERNMENT AND NATION WILL COLLAPSE. We must never forget, the great Roman society fell not from outside forces but from inner decay – they had come to expect the state to take care of them. When the enemy showed up there was no strong army, no strong desire to defend their culture or its principles.(2) As James Robison and Jay Richards quote, “A democracy…can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote (generous bestowal of gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.” (3)
America often reminds me of little Brian at a birthday party. When the cake was being served he shouted out, “I want the biggest piece!” When his mother told him it’s not polite to ask for the biggest piece, he asked, “Well then, how do you get it?” As long as our government wants always to be the biggest, the largest, the wealthiest, the most powerful – as long as our people want more and more – we will find that our cisterns are cracked and cannot hold water. It’s the sin of greed.
The next evidence Jeremiah addresses is PRIDE. It’s found in verse 20. “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ In 13:9-10, after He offered an object lesson about a useless belt, God said, “In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt – completely useless.”
The Israelites wanted to pursue their own paths, to live life their own way; they thought they knew, better than God did, what would make for a rich, blessed, abundant life. They had not learned the lesson from the time the judges ruled, that each person did what was right in their own eyes and there was chaos. WHEN PRIDE RULES, GOD DOES NOT. WHEN GOD DOES NOT RULE, THERE IS CHAOS. When God does not rule, it’s each person for himself. There are no righteous standards.
I appreciate how Rabbi Daniel Lapin put it: “Humans are by nature reluctant to submit themselves to a higher authority. Each one of us finds…liberation from external authority to be seductive. This is why one of the most conspicuous characteristics of our culture is the hatred of hierarchy. Yet, one of the most telling differences between a nation comfortable in its Judeo-Christian heritage and one engaged in a struggle to reject it is how people accept authority. Do they manufacture bumper stickers that proclaim ‘Question Authority’, or do they train children to obey parents, students to venerate teachers, husbands and wives to revere each other…Children are more likely to obey parents’ rules and later, society’s too, if they grow up watching adults accept God’s rules, even when those rules may seem inconvenient.” (4) There are, in fact, only two controlling ambitions – one is our own glory and the other is God’s glory. It’s what John said about the Pharisees (Jn. 12:43), “…they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.” As long as America continues to push God to the fringes and seek her own way and make her own laws with no righteous standards, there will be chaos. Going back to the verse with which we began this series, Prov. 29:18 – when there is no vision, where there is no revelation, where God’s words and ways are not proclaimed and followed, the people cast off restraint. The sin of pride.
The second problem Jeremiah points out is A LOSS OF REALITY OF JUDGMENT. Verse 19: “Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” GOD’S PEOPLE DESERVE JUDGMENT. But the further people, and a nation, move away from God, the further away from their minds is the reality of judgment. So Jeremiah kept repeating the message. 8:12 – “So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord.” Then in chapter 11: “So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep….I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although if they cry out to me, I will not listen to them…The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.” God’s people are not exempt from judgment when they abandon God and reject his rule.
Yet the bottom line is that GOD’S PEOPLE DO NOT HARM GOD – THEY HARM THEMSELVES. “But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?” (7:19) It’s easy to point the finger at politicians, at other people or groups; but we need to point to ourselves. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, “…The line dividing good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, not between political parties wither, but right through every human heart.” We share the fault and it is we who are harming us.
If America is to recapture her heritage and identity, IT MUST BEGIN WITH US. Jeremiah 3:25 puts is bluntly: “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.” Our own lack of righteousness, of obeying and following God’s standards, must be acknowledged and repented. God is not a Republican or a Democrat, or a Libertarian, or an Independent. He’s the Eternal Incumbent Ruler. And it’s not a matter of whose side God is on but who’s on God’s side. We cannot hope to experience revival until we can honestly pray and live by the words of the Lord’s Prayer: For “I cannot say OUR, if my religion has no room for others and their needs. I cannot say FATHER, if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily living. I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN, if all my interests and pursuits are in earthly things. I cannot say HALLOWED BY THY NAME, if I, who am called by his Name, am not holy. I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME, if I am unwilling to give up my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God. I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE, if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life. I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, unless I am truly ready to give myself to His service here and now. I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of others. I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS, if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted. I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL, if I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer. I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM, if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject. I cannot say THINE IS THE POWER, if I fear what my neighbors and friends may say or do. I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY, if I am seeking my own glory first. I cannot say FOREVER, if I am too anxious about each day’s affairs. I cannot say AMEN, unless I honestly say ‘Cost what it may, this is my prayer.’” Cost what it will, is this your prayer?
(1) R. E. Clements, Interpretation-Jeremiah, John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, © John Knox Press 1988, p. 31
(2) 40 Days towards A More Godly Nation, Neil Mammen, Rational Free Press/American Family Association, © 2012 Neil Mammen, edition 2.4, p. 33
(3) Indivisible, James Robison and Jay W. Richards, Faith Words, New York, NY, © 2012 by James Robison and jay W. Richards, p.87
(4) Rabbi Daniel Lapin, America’s Real War, Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Sister, OR, © 1999 by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, p. 63
